Questions about Stamps...

[codeguru]

Hello Everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well. I got a quick couple questions regarding stamps.

1- I have an old passport which has a couple stamps that dates back in 2009. Some parts of the stamp are in English (dates etc.) and then some parts were handwritten small notes by the Immigration Officer in a foreign language. Should this be translated (although its not likely I will have this done in time)?. Note this was in the year 2007 and prior to my first entry into Canada.

2- Since becoming a PR, I have made 1 Business and 1 Personal trip prior to applying for Citizenship. I have both Entry and Exit stamps for the Country of Visit. All the dates are accounted for and has been disclosed in the 'Physical Presence Calculator' form. However, I just realized there is no Canadian Port of Entry (Airport) stamps for both the trips upon my return to Canada. I remember using one of those automated kiosks and presented my information along with my PR card which was also scanned. Is this going to be an issue during my Citizenship Interview?

3- Is the Citizenship Officer only going to ask questions regarding the trips and stamps between the Eligibility Period or everything?

Please share your thoughts on this. Much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[AbdelAllah]

Hi,
1- If the stamp is prior the landing stamp, very highly unlikely you will be asked about these stamps. However the stamps dates should be in English or French so the interviewer will know they are before your landing stamp.
2- No issues, the interview can easily check this by pulling a report from CBSA, you can do the same as well, please check the forum on how to do so.
3- The interviewer can ask about any stamp, but I would say the interviewer will be interested in stamps after the landing stamp to evaluate if you have met the residency requirements or not.

All the best,
~A

 

[hfinkel]

I only translated the stamps in my passport that covered the five year eligibility.
My passport was 9 years old and had over 100 pages of visa stamps, many with non-English/French.
At my interview, I got lucky and the interviewer did not ask for translations to stamps outside my 5-year.

Someone else I know who just went to their interview got it all put on hold because they did not translate the stamps outside the 5-year.
After the interview, they had to go get each and every stamp with any non-English/French translated.

I think the reason I was not asked to translate everything is that there was a bigger issue regarding my application that required putting it all on hold and getting more information (12-pages of entry-exits in the physical presence). I think in my case, this was enough of a distraction for them not to notice I had more visa stamps than what I provided translations for.

My impression of the citizenship interview is that they are looking through your application to find *anything* that they can flag that will require more information for you to submit for. They're looking for anything they can flag requiring additional processing.

So if your application is relatively "clean" or simple in every other aspect, you will probably need to get every stamp translated.

 

[AbdelAllah]

I only translated the stamps in my passport that covered the five year eligibility.
My passport was 9 years old and had over 100 pages of visa stamps, many with non-English/French.
At my interview, I got lucky and the interviewer did not ask for translations to stamps outside my 5-year.

Someone else I know who just went to their interview got it all put on hold because they did not translate the stamps outside the 5-year.
After the interview, they had to go get each and every stamp with any non-English/French translated.

I think the reason I was not asked to translate everything is that there was a bigger issue regarding my application that required putting it all on hold and getting more information (12-pages of entry-exits in the physical presence). I think in my case, this was enough of a distraction for them not to notice I had more visa stamps than what I provided translations for.

My impression of the citizenship interview is that they are looking through your application to find *anything* that they can flag that will require more information for you to submit for. They're looking for anything they can flag requiring additional processing.

So if your application is relatively "clean" or simple in every other aspect, you will probably need to get every stamp translated.

Hi,
The reason why the interviewer asked the person you mentioned to translate the stamps, is the interviewer won't know if these stamps are within the 5 years eligibility period or not as the interviewer can't read them.
All the best.
~A

 

[abddayo]

My interviewer didn’t even look at each page. A lot of my stamps were not in English and the interviewer didn’t care. I didn’t translate any stamps at all. I think it really depends on who you get

 

[AbdelAllah]

That is correct, but better to be prepared as if the interviewer asks for the translation, it will delay the process.
I have a friend who didn't take the translation and said it is not on the document list, and was asked to bring it, and had to run to do them.
All the best.
~A

 

[hfinkel]

Hi,
The reason why the interviewer asked the person you mentioned to translate the stamps, is the interviewer won't know if these stamps are within the 5 years eligibility period or not as the interviewer can't read them.
All the best.
~A

In their case, some of the stamps had English dates with non-English/French entries.

DEFINITELY depends on what interviewer you get.